


To Catch A Spider

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Primeval
Genre: Cutter means well, Established Relationship, Helen up to her old tricks, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 12:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7314478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen Cutter's presence means only one thing – trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Catch A Spider

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fredbassett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredbassett/gifts).



> Written for the lovely fredbassett who gave me the prompt “Only because I love you.” Set in a series two with the ARC but no one died or ceased to exist.
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal in 2011.

There were a lot of things that Stephen and Ryan didn't say to each other, “I love you” being the most obvious. They'd both decided, without consulting the other, that the words went unspoken every day – when Stephen slept in the wet spot, when Ryan cooked a full English, when one saved the other's life from a rampaging dinosaur. There just wasn't any need for a declaration of feelings, until one day there was.

* * * * * *

“Helen's back.”

Stephen nearly spat out his tea as Cutter made the announcement. He slowly put his mug on to the table in front of him and looked up at Cutter, waiting for an explanation. They were in the ARC's canteen and thankfully no one else was around; Stephen had the distinct impression he wasn't going to want an audience for this conversation.

Reining in his temper, and because it was apparent that Cutter was waiting for him to make the next move, Stephen tried to think of something to say that wouldn't kick-start World War III.

“Oh?” is what he finally settled on. Something of the old him must have shown on his face because Cutter started laughing and Stephen couldn't help but join in.

“Right,” Cutter said. “Sorry. You haven't seen her then?”

“I would have told you if I had,” Stephen said, stressing each word.

Cutter nodded. “Yes, this _thing_ you have with Ryan, I imagine even Helen might get the hint that you're not interested in her.”

“Thing?” Stephen repeated.

“Well, you know,” Cutter replied, waving his hand in Stephen's direction. Stephen continued looking at him and Cutter frowned. “That wasn't...”

“Homophobic, disparaging, anything like that?” Ryan said, appearing in the doorway behind Cutter.

“Well no, I mean, you know you're not...I'm not...I'm happy for you both.”

“Don't worry,” Ryan said, “it was a perfectly Cutter thing to say.”

Cutter's frown deepened. “I'm not quite sure I like the sound of that.”

“So what's this about Helen?” Stephen asked, trying to change the subject before they strayed deeper into uncomfortable territory. He'd much rather discuss Helen with Cutter than he would his relationship with Ryan any day.

“You haven't been home lately, have you?” Cutter replied.

“Answering a question with a question is extremely annoying,” Ryan said, before Stephen could. He passed Stephen a plate of biscuits and then sat down next to him with a mug of tea, glaring at Cutter until he too sat down.

“Helen was spotted outside your flat three nights ago, and then again last night. According to the surveillance unit...”

“Surveillance unit? You've been watching my flat?” Stephen interrupted, temper flaring. Ryan put a calming hand on his arm.

“It was Lester's idea,” Cutter said, “not mine.”

“But you agreed to keep it from me,” Stephen said, the hurt in his voice more than evident. “I thought we'd moved passed this.”

“It wasn't like that,” Cutter said. “It's not _you_ we were watching, but Helen. It's her we don’t trust.”

Cutter was saying all the right things, but Stephen looked like he didn't believe any of them.

“What's Helen been doing exactly?” Ryan asked. He tightened his grip on Stephen's arm and Stephen resisted shaking him off, trying to keep his temper in check.

“Watching the flat mainly. She hasn't attempted to come here. So we thought...” Cutter stopped talking and looked uncomfortably between Ryan and Stephen.

“You thought it was Stephen she was interested in,” Ryan said, “rather than the project.”

“One naturally leads to the other,” Cutter said. “But, yes.”

“One naturally leads to the other,” Stephen repeated, mimicking Cutter's accent perfectly. “How do you make that out?”

“Well, it's not exactly the first time Helen's got to the project through you.”

“I haven't even spoken to her!” Stephen shouted.

“I didn't tell you this so we could hash that out again,” Cutter said, almost shouting himself. “Is a reasonable discussion too much to ask for?”

Stephen got up, knocking his chair to the floor and, moving away from Ryan, he stormed out of the room.

Ryan sighed and put the chair upright. “You should have told him what was going on from the beginning. And me. You know he's blinkered where Helen's concerned. The same as you.”

“I'm not blinkered,” Cutter said. Then he put his head in his hands. “All right,” he said, voice slightly muffled. “He might not be thinking straight.” He sat up properly and Ryan refrained from smiling at the birds nest look of Cutter's hair. Just.

“I'll apologise,” Cutter said.

“Words won't make much difference if you don't mean them,” Ryan said. Cutter seemed like he was about to object, and then settled for shaking his head.

Ryan took a sip of his tea, grimaced at the lukewarmness of it, and then went in search of Stephen.

* * * * *

It didn’t take long for Ryan to find Stephen – all he had to do was follow the sounds of shouting. Most of it was coming from Stephen until Lester evidently said something cutting enough that Stephen was left speechless. After that it seemed more like Lester talking and Stephen nodding in occasional agreement.

“What's going on?” Connor asked, sidling up to Ryan on his skateboard.

“Helen up to her old tricks,” Ryan replied.

“Oh.” Connor's face fell. “Stephen hasn't done something he shouldn’t, has he?”

Ryan looked sharply at Connor, but all he saw was Connor's genuine worry for his friend.

“No,” Ryan said, “Stephen hasn't done anything.”

They stood side by side for a moment, watching curiously as Lester and Stephen continued to talk, until Stephen poked his head out of Lester's office and motioned for Ryan to join them.

* * * * *

“Naturally there will be some risks in regards to this mission,” Lester was saying.

“Mission?” Cutter spluttered. “You're talking about kidnapping my wife.”

“Are you objecting?” Claudia asked. She was perched on one corner of Lester's desk, her arms folded. The others in the meeting – Abby, Connor, Stephen and Ryan – knew better than to interject.

“Of course not. In principal.” Cutter finally caught on to Claudia's expression and began to quickly backtrack. “I don't care what happens to Helen, I'm not interested in her any more. The only woman I'm...”

Lester coughed and Cutter paused. “Perhaps you can save your spiel for the Trisha show, or whatever juvenile excuse for television these chat shows call themselves. Stephen has agreed to wear a wire to his meeting and that is an end to the matter.”

Cutter looked like he had several more objections to make but Ryan beat him to it.

“This only goes ahead if I'm leading the surveillance team.”

Stephen looked surprised. “Why would you want to be involved?”

Ryan's sigh was one of pure frustration. “Because I love you, you idiot, and I don't want you getting hurt.”

“Oh,” Stephen said, clearly not sure how to respond. Everyone bar Lister shifted uncomfortably. Lester merely raised an eyebrow, as if to ask why everyone was still bothering him.

“We'll let Captain Ryan and Stephen plan their next move then, shall we?” Claudia suggested and they all filed out of the room, Stephen still unable to form a coherent sentence.

* * * * *

“I don't know why you find it so hard to accept,” Ryan was saying. “I would have thought it was obvious how I felt about you. We're practically living together.”

Stephen moved closer to Ryan, ignoring the looks the others were shooting their way. They probably should have taken their conversation somewhere more private, but Ryan had seemed strangely determined to have it in the atrium, in full view of everyone.

“It's not that,” Stephen said. “I...I feel the same. It's just I don't exactly have a great track record where it comes to relationships, do I?”

Ryan grabbed Stephen’s arms and pulled him into a hungry kiss, accompanied by many wolf whistles – mostly from Connor – and a lot of cheering.

“You're doing fine,” Ryan said when they broke apart. “Okay?”

Stephen could only nod dumbly – he'd never felt more out of his depth. Or more determined.

* * * * *

The plan was a simple one. Too simple according to Cutter who still seemed to have an inflated opinion of Helen's intelligence. But the others all agreed it seemed foolproof and Stephen was more than willing to put himself on the line, so that was that.

In the end it took less than 12 hours before Helen came snooping around Stephen's flat, and found him at home.

She deftly picked the lock and was sauntering inside before Stephen, dressed only in sweatpants, had even finished drying his hair from a quick after work shower.

“You know, Stephen, I appreciate you making the effort, but you really didn't have to clean yourself up on my behalf. I rather like you dirty.”

Outside in the surveillance van, Connor gagged loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Don't worry, none of this is for you,” Stephen said. He threw his damp towel to the floor. “What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear at the Forest of Dean that I didn't want anything more to do with you.”

“Your body says different,” Helen replied, stalking forward. Stephen held his ground but his fingers twitched as if he wanted to grab his towel back and use it to shield himself.

“No it doesn't,” Stephen said. “The only thing my body feels for you is disgust.”

“Really, Stephen,” Helen said, “you don't actually expect me to believe that do you? All those lonely nights in an empty bed....”

Stephen snorted. “I had that when we were involved. Besides, I'm in a relationship.”

“What's her name?”

“Tom.”

Helen looked momentarily wrong-footed.

“ _Please_ ,” Ryan pleaded through the team's comms unit, “tell me someone got a good shot of her face just then.”

Stephen smiled and then turned to glare at Helen. “You can meet him if you like. He's right in there.”

Ryan stepped out of the bathroom with damp hair, wearing only some tight black jeans and with a gun in his hand. “Mrs Cutter,” he said. “Never a pleasure.”

Helen moved swiftly towards Stephen, intent on slapping him around the face, but Stephen easily grabbed her wrist.

“It's over, Helen,” Stephen said. “You've got nowhere to go.”

Cutter came out of his hiding place, joined by several of Ryan's armed men and Stephen dropped her wrist.

“Et tu, Nick?” Helen asked on spotting her husband.

“You work with us or you work against us, Helen. There's no middle ground, not any more.”

Helen shook her head at him. “You never were clever enough to follow my vision.” She glared at Stephen. “And neither were you.”

She stepped a little closer to Stephen, who swallowed hard but didn't move away. “He'll get bored of you. And you'll come running back to me like the pathetic...”

“That's enough,” Ryan said. He stepped in between Helen and Stephen and efficiently handcuffed her. “Take her back to the ARC,” he told a couple of his men, who were only too happy to comply.

“It's not true, you know,” Ryan said. He turned to look Stephen in the eye.

“I know that,” Stephen replied. He put his arms around Ryan's neck and drew him close. “Only because I love you.” Then he kissed Ryan, as if his life depended on it.

The rest of the team refrained from making any sound this time, they simply slipped out in silence and left Stephen and Ryan together, exactly the way they wanted.


End file.
